Views & Opinion
Secondaries haven’t done their science homework if they think that time with nature is just for primary schools Comment by DR CORAL HARPER and DR MARGOT SUNDERLAND, Directors at Trauma Informed Schools UK
There seems to be an assumption that time on the curriculum spent with nature is just for little kids, but this flies in the face of a tsunami of research.
Supporting mental health in secondary schools 1 in 6 young people have a mental health problem. By age 17 almost 1 in 4 teenagers say they have self-harmed. 50 percent of all mental health problems start by the age of 14. many teenagers come from urban environments, spend their school day indoors and then
go home to their indoor life, yet research shows that spending even a short time in forests, parks and gardens reduces depressive symptoms, increases positive emotions, improves self-esteem, reduces negative thoughts and improves the immune, cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Large-scale epidemiological studies show that high levels of green space during childhood are associated with lower risk of psychiatric disorders later in life (Engemanna et al 2019), while being outside in nature activates the neurochemical oxytocin (an anti-anxiety and anti- aggression chemical) (Uvas-Moberg 2011).
Neuroscience research highlights the key role of toxic stress in both depression and anxiety. Screen time triggers stress chemicals, whereas nature time lowers them. “Screens pulsate flashing lights at superfast speed designed to grab our attention. These experiences wake up our brains, tapping into our stress systems, keeping us ready for action and interfere with the release of melatonin (the hormone that helps us sleep!) “(Harper 2014).
Supporting learning in secondary schools
Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory (ART) describes how people have two types of attention: directed attention and restorative attention. Directed attention is an intentional mental process activated most of the time in secondary schools by focusing on a given task, i.e., curriculum subjects and sports. Restorative attention comes from effortless fascination such as being in natural environments. Research shows that the latter restores, rejuvenates and supports the return to improved directed attention for academic subjects. Unfortunately it’s rare to see restorative attention time built into the secondary curriculum, which is a shame because ART theory suggests that 20 minutes a day in nature is enough to restore our neurochemistry to good balance, even when we don’t enjoy it!
If teenagers were given actual curriculum time (not a tokenistic add- on) to come off task and go outdoors to engage with nature something incredible would happen in their brains. Within a fraction of a second, after you stop focusing on a task, a particular brain network called the default mode network (DMN) is activated. It plays an important role in processes like mind-wandering, imagination, and spontaneous thinking and is key for generating creative ideas (Beaty et al 2018, Desjardin et al 2011). But its network is only activated by effortless restorative attention,
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as happens when you bathe in nature in some way, when lying in an autumn bed of leaves for example.
The salience network is responsible for sorting through the creative ideas that emerge from the DMN - helping people keep their focus on useful ideas while discarding those that aren’t working. It’s the synchrony between these two systems that’s key for creativity. Finally, in terms of enhancing learning, being with nature provides all the benefits of enriched environments. An enriched environment (EE) is defined as one that fully engages teenagers in four specific ways: cognitively, socially, physically and sensorially. Research shows that EEs triggers BDNF (a brain fertiliser) which positively affects the development of the teenager’s higher thinking brain functions, like good planning and decision making.
Implementation in the secondary school curriculum PSHE/PSE Restorative curriculum. Aim: To take time to connect with self, others, the natural environment and know your mind in peace. “When a [teenager] is hooked to technology, they’ve disconnected from reality, from themselves, from each other, and the world around them. Spending time with nature does the complete opposite - [teenagers] are connecting with their own imagination and sense of freedom, with others, to the world, and to the other living things they co- exist with” (Chavalit and Naachimuthu 2020).
Use breathing techniques, but the task is to be in the moment with nature. Address the following questions: What did you notice out there that you don’t notice when in a classroom? What restorative attention activity did you choose? Some examples to inspire might be lying in grass gazing up at the sky; sitting on a tree branch listening to rustling leaves, looking at the structure of a leaf, a glistening bug, the clouds moving past the sun; wheat blowing in the field; the call of a starling; a wild bird landing on the feeder; making sculptures with twigs. All these are not little things; they have dramatic impact on mental and physical health. Report back in small groups or to the whole class. What does restorative attention feel like as different from directed attention? Regarding the DMN, did any creative ideas come, perhaps entrepreneurial ideas, or actions you need to take with yourself or others? Measure heart rate before and after. Discuss all in relation to mental health. Design and technology: Go outside and make a design together out of natural material (sea, wood, forest), photograph and present in a PowerPoint to the group.
Business studies/ Entrepreneurial skills: As a group make a product or artefact outside using natural materials. Bring it back if you can, or if too big, photograph it and include in a PowerPoint presentation. Imagine the group are customers and sell it to them.
Have a staff meeting outside and ask subject leaders, usually passionate about the extension of their curriculum, how to teach their subject outdoors. Instead of meeting in an office, one school in Pembrokeshire offered annual performance reviews for teachers in a treehouse. They reported more openness and engagement, and better outcomes of the process.
Rather than the use of isolation/ time out rooms, take children outside to regulate, accessing up to 5 times the neurochemical benefit in pro- social chemicals than those accessed inside.
Finally, if we want our teenagers to really care about climate change, it’s never going to happen unless they have an emotional attachment to nature. As Sir David Attenborough said in his Speech to Communicate Conference (2010) “No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”
October 2022
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